<!DOCTYPE html>
<html>
<head>
<meta charset="UTF-8">
<title>annoyance (affectionate) by OceanMyth</title>
<style type="text/css">

body { background-color: #ffffff; }
.CI {
text-align:center;
margin-top:0px;
margin-bottom:0px;
padding:0px;
}
.center   {text-align: center;}
.cover    {text-align: center;}
.full     {width: 100%; }
.quarter  {width: 25%; }
.smcap    {font-variant: small-caps;}
.u        {text-decoration: underline;}
.bold     {font-weight: bold;}
</style>
</head>
<body>
<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/29959395">annoyance (affectionate)</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/OceanMyth/pseuds/OceanMyth'>OceanMyth</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>Ocean's ATLA Drabbles, Oneshots, and Ficlets [39]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Avatar: The Last Airbender</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>F/M, competitions, katara is there too, mai ends them, sokka starts things, supporting mai's mission to annoy her brother</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2021-03-10</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2021-03-10</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-16 01:47:09</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>General Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>857</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/29959395</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/OceanMyth/pseuds/OceanMyth</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>Mai doesn't get into competitions often, but when she does, she <i>always</i> wins. Sokka didn't think things through, when he suggested that they take turns annoying each other during meetings.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Mai/Sokka (Avatar)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>Ocean's ATLA Drabbles, Oneshots, and Ficlets [39]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/series/2113209</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>5</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>28</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>annoyance (affectionate)</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><ul class="associations">
      <li>For <a href="https://archiveofourown.org/users/faerialchemist/gifts">faerialchemist</a>.</li>



    </ul></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <span>Mai clacks her fingernails against the ice, and watches Sokka’s face twitch. She does it again, letting the tip of each nail fall down, quickly and smoothly next to one another, clicking and tapping. At least those music lessons Mother had forced her to take as a child were good for something— even if she couldn’t carry a tune, the tutors had been able to foster a sense of rhythm within her.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>A sense of rhythm she now abuses, as she forms halfway, incomplete measures, getting so close to a steady tempo, only to deliberately mangle it at the very end. A use for her sense of rhythm that Mother would have disapproved of, no doubt, if she were here to witness it. </span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Tap-click-tap. </span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>A pause. </span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Clack.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Sokka closes his eyes, and she watches his slow and steady exhale and inhale. Wonders how much more it will take him to crack. She repeats the motion.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>It won’t be long now, but Mai can be patient if she needs to be— which is less often, here in the Southern Water Tribe. The aversion to waiting is something Mai appreciates about this place, for all that the cold makes things unbearable. It makes it much less boring, if there is always something to be done.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Sokka’s knuckles are white and flexed, and she knows that he’s biting his tongue to avoid shouting at her in the middle of the meeting. After all, it wouldn’t be polite to interrupt, and he’s already been warned against speaking out of turn once, when Katara got fed up with him injecting his thoughts into the rebuilding plans.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Mai has been careful to keep her amusement off her face throughout this whole process, but when Sokka’s midnight blue eyes meet hers again it’s clear that he knows just as she does, that this is deliberate. She lets the sharp edge of a smile lift the corner of her lips the width of a hair. </span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>It’s not a </span>
  <em>
    <span>smile,</span>
  </em>
  <span> even by her standards. It’s more of a challenging or teasing smirk. The closest she thinks she’s gotten to that in years. </span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>It does the job. If she’d thought Sokka looked tense before, that was nothing compared to the tight bowstring of his body now, practically quivering with irritation. She raises a finger once more— and he snaps.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“If you’ll excuse me, I need to go have a word with the Ambassador. In private.” Sokka pushes to his feet and snags her hand as she rises from the furs she was sitting on.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span> Katara winks at her, and Mai gives her an eighth of a nod in acknowledgement, as she follows Sokka out of the room. She wouldn’t have had such an easy success if Katara hadn’t been willing to create a little patch of ice on the ground for Mai’s fingernails to tap against.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>They’re outside in a moment, and Sokka’s finger is poking against her parka. Her back hits the side of the building when she takes a step back. </span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“What was that?” he demands. She doesn’t say anything for a second, and Sokka’s tension starts to drain out of his body. Only then does she bother to say anything.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“You were the one who started it. This was your suggestion,” Mai points out evenly. Sokka’s hands tangle in the base of his wolf-tail, setting strands of hair free of the tie holding it all up. It falls forward to hang in his face, and Mai nearly reaches up to tuck it behind his ear, but thinks better of it at the last second. They are still fighting, for all intents and purposes. </span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>She can indulge herself later.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“Yes! Because I-” Mai raises an eyebrow and interrupts. Something she finds herself doing more and more around Sokka. She’s not sure she likes the change, but it’s exciting nonetheless. Most things are, with Sokka.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“You assumed that I wouldn’t be able to hold my own?” A heartbeat of silence. Sokka nods, embarrassed. Mai nearly smiles again. It’s too easy with Sokka— and that’s a little dangerous and thrilling, hanging on the edge of forgetting everything her life has taught her up until now.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p><span>He pulls his hair tie out, sending hair swinging forward to cover his eyes almost immediately before he gathers it back up to keep it out of his face and recapturing those little strands he’d set free by accident.</span><span><br/></span><span><br/></span> <span>“Well, it’s not </span><em><span>precisely</span></em><span> that I thought you couldn’t hold your own— I just assumed that I would have a bit of an advantage, since I have a sister and you’re an only child-” Mai steps closer, and Sokka’s words falter. She has to look down just a little bit to meet his eyes, but it’s fine, even if her own breath falters for a moment as well, and the words dry up on her lips for a moment.</span></p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“I was Azula’s friend. I may have had a disadvantage, but remember— I like to win.” Sokka swallows.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“I’ll keep that in mind.”</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>And because Sokka makes her bold— foolish and funny Sokka— she leans down to kiss him, uncaring of who might see.</span>
</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>not the party-makeout that I thought I was going to write for you, but I hope this works just as well 💙</p></blockquote></div></div>
</body>
</html>